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XRP, DOGE surge 5%, bitcoin above $81,000 as CLARITY Act clears Senate banking panel
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May 15, 2026
Crypto majors bid higher Friday after the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee in a 15-9 bipartisan vote, with XRP and dogecoin leading the cohort even as broader risk assets sold off on Trump's comments that the US does not need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Crypto pushed through the macro selling on Friday, with bitcoin
BTCreclaiming $81,000 after the U.S. Senate Banking Committee advanced the Clarity Act in a 15-9 bipartisan vote late Thursday.
Bitcoin traded at $81,055 in Asian hours, up 2.3% over 24 hours and 1.9% over the past seven days, per CoinDesk data, recovering the level it had slipped under on Wednesday's producer price index print.
XRP (XRP) led the major altcoins with a 4.5% gain to $1.49, extending its weekly run to 7.6% and making it the standout performer on the seven-day tape. Dogecoin added 3% to $0.1159 and is now up 8.9% over the past seven days, while BNB gained 2% to $681 and solana climbed 2% to $91.
The Clarity Act vote was the first major bipartisan move on crypto market structure legislation in months. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott managed a last-moment maneuver to admit amendments he had earlier rejected, winning over two Democratic votes and securing the 15-9 margin after several hours of partisan sniping.
"This process has been one of the most informative and challenging processes I've been through as a United States senator," Scott said after the vote, as CoinDesk reported. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the committee's ranking Democrat, objected to the procedural shift that brought the additional amendments back into play, telling colleagues "the deal you like, it's not the deal I like."
The bill now moves to a merger with a similar version approved earlier by the Senate Agriculture Committee in a party-line vote. The merged legislation will then face a full Senate vote, followed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Several substantive issues remain unresolved, including law enforcement concerns and an ethics provision that several Democrats have flagged as a condition for their broader support.
XRP's outperformance reflects the regulatory tailwind landing directly on its addressable case.
The token has been the most directly affected by U.S. legal uncertainty since the SEC's case against Ripple Labs, and clearer market structure legislation removes one of the structural overhangs that has weighed on the price.
Renna Ba, head of ecosystem at Layer-2 network Morph, said the Clarity Act's separation of payment stablecoins from investment assets gives the global payments industry "the legal foundation it has needed to build with confidence."
CK Zheng, co-founder and chief investment officer at ZX Squared Capital, said the regulatory progress reinforces a broader thesis that bitcoin's bear market bottom was likely established in Q1.
The roughly 50% drawdown from peak levels is "notably shallower than the ~78% decline seen during the 2022 cycle," Zheng said, suggesting bitcoin is evolving into a more mature and less volatile asset class. He also flagged Strategy's STRC preferred stock launch, which has drawn $8.5 billion in incremental institutional interest at an 11.5% dividend yield.
The crypto strength came against a hostile macro tape, however.
President Trump said the U.S. does not need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, sending Brent crude higher and deepening concerns about elevated energy costs feeding into inflation. MSCI's Asia Pacific equity index fell 1.1%, U.S. equity futures slipped 0.2%, and the Treasury 10-year yield climbed four basis points to 4.52%.
Japan's 10-year yield jumped as much as seven basis points after domestic producer prices rose at the fastest annual pace since 2023. The dollar gained for a fifth straight day on haven demand.
Sources >> XRP, DOGE surge 5%, bitcoin above $81,000 as CLARITY Act clears Senate banking panel
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